Helping Yourself Stay Well

It is much better to keep yourself healthy rather than fall ill and need medical care so look after yourself:

Eat a healthy balanced diet

Avoid or stop smoking

Don’t drink excessively

Have your blood pressure checked

Take regular exercise

Keep to a healthy weight

Reduce or avoid stress

Men, perform regular examinations of the testicles

Women, have regular cervical smears and check your breasts regularly

Healthy Diet

Eat less sugar, fat and salt and drink less alcohol. Eat more fibre, more fish and white meat.

Alcohol

Men can drink up to 28 units a week Women can drink up to 21 units a week A unit = 1/2 pint of beer = Pub measure of spirits = Pub glass of wine = Small glass of sherry

Smoking – Why Stop?

A man aged 50 who smokes 20 a day is four times more likely to die from heart disease than a non-smoker of the same age. Lung cancer kills 38,000 people a year in the UK. Each cigarette shortens your life by five to six minutes. It makes your children ill – they are twice as likely to get chest and ear infections.

Exercise

It helps to reduce weight. It helps to relieve stress. It makes you feel and look better. Once you have found a form of exercise you enjoy, do it:

Often enough - Two or three times a week for 20-30 minutes

Hard enough - To make you feel breathless

Long enough - It must become part of your life for good.

Remember: If you are not used to exercise start slowly and build up gradually. Both doctors and nurses will be happy to advise you and your family about these important changes. Why not come to a well man/woman clinic?